Lack of Thought is Lack of Life

Sometime in the near dystopian future, there is a barren and sterile world, one where people are painted as innately grotesque and lacking in spirit. A Clockwork Orange highlights humanity’s brutal flaws - hypocrisy, greed, and a need to control and dominate - primarily through modern institutions, technology, and innovations used in twisted and immoral ways. In a cruel hierarchy of powerful figures and powerless people, hopelessness and obedience is taught as second nature. But amidst this, there is something that can’t be forgotten: humanity and autonomy. 

Society’s Hypocrisy

A Clockwork Orange emphasises that no matter how mechanised and developed we get, humans are still ultimately humans. We will never cease to have personal interests, thoughts, feelings, distinctive uncontrollable traits. Equally, there is the same capacity to have fatal and undesirable traits. 

This spectrum is displayed rather extremely in the young protagonist, Alex Delarge, who commits violent crimes in a sociopathic manner. Yet his treatment by those around him - the government, doctors, police, and Frank the writer - all emphasises society's hypocrisy: self-interest disguised as actions of utilitarianism. A key example of this is the subversive writer Frank, who aims to expose the government's dehumanising treatments. After realising that Alex was not only the victim of the experimental treatment for criminals, but also the youngster who had assaulted him and his wife, he seeks revenge and tortures Alex by driving him insane with the music he once loved, to the point of Alex's attempted suicide. He ends up imprisoned by the Minister, but not for his harassment of another human being or for any matter of law and justice. Instead, it is for the Minister's personal benefit and public reputation, which were put at risk by Frank’s exposé. It is a blatant critique of the modern decline of humane empathy and compassion, the abandonment of what should be considered basic human values, and the duplicity of public media. How much do the police, politicians, and priests actually care about us?

Arguably, some believe that humans are fundamentally motivated by self-interest, or that there is inherent evil in some or all of us, and therefore that crime can never truly be solved. However, self-interest does not necessarily have to override basic morals and empathy, nor require us to cut others down for our own gain. A Clockwork Orange suggests that progress cannot be made without first developing and remaining committed to a personal set of moral principles.

Lack of Humanity

“We’re not concerned with the motifs or higher ethics, we are concerned only with cutting down crime.” 

The Minister

Despite criminals like Alex being responsible for the destruction and ruin of others, the dehumanising treatment of Alex by the more dignified, respected, and influential people is entirely ineffective and hypocritical. Alex may be the very opposite of empathic and kind, yet the doctors and police are shown to be no different except in their perfected, virtuous facades. The actions are no different; it is only the appearance of the vessel who initiates them. An act of violence is an act of violence. The police, who beat up Alex in ways that Alex beat up the old drunkard, make this hypocrisy clear, for both of them had the same motive for doing so: their personal pleasure in violence. This initiates a cycle, or chain, of treating others how they were treated.

Beyond being a criminal, Alex also showed regular interests and pleasures that demonstrated his humanity (his pet snake and his love of Beethoven). After his dehumanising “treatment”, both of these things were taken away from him, representing his confiscation of hope, free will, and humanity.

This alarming lack of empathy and genuineness is displayed as another fatality; today, we are urged to look beyond the surface of things and try to gain a deeper understanding of them, for that is how issues are solved most effectively. For Alex, there is no concern for or questioning of the whys by the people around him, and he is never driven to genuinely reform for the better. The government, prisons, and doctors are all completely unconcerned with the root cause of any issues, but rather aim for the most superficial and dismissive solution, one that lacks any critical understanding of the causes.

When Alex stops his bad behaviour, he never acts upon his own internal motivation, but rather is forced to by his treatment. This misalignment in personal morals and outward behaviour is what Kubrick and Burgess showed so well - they stand by the side that the inner matters just as much as the outer, and that if we ignore the contrast, there are consequences. It is here, again, that the danger of apathy and selfishness is brought to attention.

Importance of Autonomy

“He ceases to be a creature capable of moral choice.” 

Priest (on Alex after the treatment)

Without the capability of free will, humans are not truly human. When we cannot truly think or decide for ourselves, there is a vital part of humanity that has been stripped away, giving the impression of a shell of a human; a zombie. You can move around and look at pictures, eat and taste food, touch a surface with your hands, but you cannot think about what the pictures look like, what something tastes like, what the surface reminds you of, and that is the disconnect between human and object.

Through the complete loss of autonomy and independence brought about by the experimental, superficial “cure” for his criminal nature, Alex is rendered entirely defenceless - a submissive animal and former lab rat, now being harassed by the same people that he once caused immense torment to. Unable to act or decide for himself, he is inert in the rough, dangerous environment he lives in, tortured and assaulted by even those who are meant to uphold law and order - the police, the government. Hence, the dangers of political corruption, submission, and the inability to consider the alternative are calamitous, both personally and on a larger scale. The relevance this holds today is clear, for with the continual exposure we face to biased narratives and extreme deception by media, celebrities, politicians, and corporations, the ability to choose, think, and act for yourself is absolutely vital.

Conclusion

All in all, A Clockwork Orange is a creative and inventive piece of media, full of relevance even decades later. In modern news, new technology, and AI bots, there is a constant opportunity to remain placid and accept whatever we see or are told. But people are not machines, so long as you keep on thinking and deciding - choose whether to believe something, choose whether to argue with someone, choose to go somewhere new, choose to show emotions, to have your morals and stick to them; choose not to forget your humanity.